


Euphoria

by starkflowerstew



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:00:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28471290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkflowerstew/pseuds/starkflowerstew
Summary: you can't make everyone happy, so just focus on making yourself happy.
Relationships: Dex Dizznee/Fitz Vacker, Edaline Ruewen/Grady Ruewen, Grizel/Sandor (Keeper of the Lost Cities), Keefe Sencen/Tam Song, Marella Redek & Linh Song, Sophie Foster/Biana Vacker
Kudos: 12





	Euphoria

**Author's Note:**

  * For [a_lonely_tatertot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_lonely_tatertot/gifts).



> so uh this is my first fic so sorry if it sucks  
> also I've never been in a relationship before so

Sophie looked out of her window at the new day. The sky was a light indigo, the waves were perfect, and she could see a ship bearing the Vacker crest on the horizon. Vacker. She couldn’t wait to meet her betrothed. Her parents had told her that his name was Fitz. Sophie felt a slight twinge in her heart when she thought of having a husband, but she pushed it away. “I can’t believe today is the day, Linh!”   
“Have you decided what you’re going to wear yet?” Linh asked, gesturing to a rack of dresses. “Red or blue? I think we should go with red, but let’s see what Vertina thinks.”   
Vertina was Sophie’s handmaiden but she never really liked Sophie. Instead, she favored Sophie’s late sister, Jolie. Everyone who knew Jolie said that she was a kindhearted soul, but she had died a few years before Sophie was born.  
“Red,” Said Vertina from her spot on Sophie’s day bed. “The blue is way too bright.”  
Vertina put on Sophie’s corset and Sophie walked behind her dressing screen and slipped the red dress on.   
“You look. . . wow,” Linh said as Sophie sauntered out from behind the screen. “Fitz is going to be amazed!” Sophie wondered if he would be when he met her. He would be, right? She did what she was told. She may have spent most of her childhood in the village, but she had learned to act like a princess, learned to make everyone content.

Biana walked across the ship to her brother, Fitz. They were due to arrive at the Ruewen’s castle in about an hour so everyone was fretting. Fitz was sitting on some barrels, adjusting his navy blue cape. “Do I have to do this?” He asked Biana as she plopped onto the barrel next to him.   
“Do what?”  
“Marry a princess. What if she sees right through me?” Fitz asked as he gazed at a short red-haired boy. Fitz had had a crush on Dex Dizznee, his best friend’s squire, as long as both Fitz and Biana could remember.   
“She won’t. And you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Mom will understand! Now I’m going to check on Marella because the boat is getting a little too bumpy for my taste.”  
Biana walked towards the quarterdeck where Marella was seated. Marella used to be a pirate but joined the Vacker’s navy when the ship was struck by lighting. “Hey, Bee. What’s wrong?”  
“Fitz is being whiney. But I get it. I wouldn’t want to marry someone that I didn’t want to marry. That’s why I became a knight!”  
“Yeah, yeah, I know. When you were six your father wanted you to marry a prince from a far off land so you got Fitz’s bodyguard to teach you how to fight. Then you challenged King Alden to a duel and accidentally killed him. Everyone’s heard the story a thousand times.”  
Biana blushed at the reminder of how she killed her father. No one had punished her because she was a princess. Instead, they recruited her into the army (first squiring to a knight named Woltzer, then becoming a knight herself). She enjoyed most things about being a knight, the getting out there and doing things part. The saving people part. The bloodshed. . . she could go without that. But sometimes she wondered if she would be happy as something else. She didn’t want to be a knight forever, be alone forever. But she was a good knight and made everyone happy that way.

The Vacker ship was nearing the castle. Sophie’s stomach was crowded with butterflies when she felt Linh bound up beside her. “Ooh! She’s pretty!” Linh whispered as she pointed to a blonde haired girl who was steering the vessel. The sky was changing from purple to blue as the sun climbed higher.   
“I suppose you should get dressed if you want to impress the captain,” Sophie joked. “Tam too. There’s probably a boy on that ship that he’ll like.”   
Linh gushed about how excited she was as she got dressed, but Sophie wasn’t really listening. She knew that everyone around her was supportive of same-sex relationships, but Sophie was a princess. She was supposed to marry a prince and have children. Have heirs to the throne. That would make everyone cheerful. Everyone except Sophie. 

The boat arrived and dropped the anchor down. The Ruewens and some others arrived at the dock as the Vackers rowed to shore. Biana scanned the group. There were two people with long black hair and silvery bangs gazing at the ship, Queen Edaline and King Grady were holding hands, and Sophie. Biana’s breath hitched when she first made eye-contact with this blonde, beautiful girl. God, Sophie was pretty. But then Sophie’s eyes broke away and reluctantly looked at Biana’s brother. Fitzroy Avery Vacker. Sophie’s husband to-be. Biana pushed away these thoughts as Queen Edaline began to speak. “Della! I haven’t seen you since you found Sophie!”  
“Oh, I missed you, Eda!” Della rushed forward and greeted her friend with a bear-hug. “I’m so glad to see you. And you, Grady!” Biana’s mother was smiling so much that she was practically glowing. She looked so overjoyed to see her friends, so exuberant. 

Sophie thought she was ready. Ready to meet Fitz. Ready to play pretend. But the moment she looked at his sister all of that melted away. She had heard stories Biana. How beautiful she was, how good of a knight she was, how she had killed her father. But nothing had prepared her for this. Sophie was gazing at Biana when Biana suddenly looked back and Sophie had to pull away from the entrancing ocean of blue-green. Fitz looked regal in his tunic and cape but Sophie couldn’t help but notice how melancholy he looked. Queen Della greeted Sophie’s parents and then Edaline told Sophie to escort Fitz to his room. She took his arm, stealing one last glance at the knight in shining armor. “So,” Fitz said as they entered the castle. “What do you want to talk about?”  
“Well. . . what’s your favorite food?”  
They talked and talked along their walk to the room. He was nice, made good jokes, and was smart, but Sophie just couldn’t figure out why she didn’t like him. Why he wasn’t happy. Did she not look happy? Or. . . had he seen the way Sophie had stared at his sister? He couldn’t have, right? “Fitz,” Sophie blurted out before she could stop herself. “Do you want to get married?” Judging by the look on his face, he wasn’t prepared for this question. Who would have been?  
“I-uh. . . yes?” He said. But Sophie knew. She knew by the way he had hesitated. She knew by his eyes and by his smile. She knew he wasn’t as happy as a clam.

Biana walked back and forth across her room. The chamber had been showed to her by Sophie’s bodyguard, Sandor. He had left not seconds after with Fitz’s guard, Grizel. Biana sat down on her bed and started to take her armor off. She was left with her thin underclothes and was quickly chilled by the ocean breeze from the windows. She dressed in a tunic and trousers and went off to find Keefe.   
Keefe was sitting on a windowsil when she found him. “Hey. Might you know where- uh- Fitz is?” she asked him.  
“You mean where Sophie is?” He replied. He knew her too well.   
“No. . . well. . . yeah.”  
“In Fitzy’s room. Two floors down, one left turn, first door on the right. And while you’re here- you haven’t seen that black haired boy, have you?”  
“Can’t say that I have. You should go look for him, though. I’m sure he’d appreciate it!” Biana winked and skipped down the stairs, delighted to have a hand in someone’s love life.

“It’s okay. I get it. I’m. . . not sure I want to marry you either- no offense, it’s not you, I promise.” Sophie said quickly. “It’s just. . . I’m not sure I like boys at all.”  
“Really? That’s great! I mean, not so great because our parents have a whole plan for us, but great for us! Do you. . . have someone else in mind?”  
“I’m not really sure, but maybe your sister? Sorry, I know this must seem weird.”  
“No, no it’s fine. My best friend’s squire, Dex, is the one that I love.”   
Fitz jumped up with alarm. “Biana? How long have you been standing there?”  
“Only for a second. Why?”  
“N-nothing!” Sophie stammered.   
“Okay. . . uh, Fitz? Could I borrow Sophie for a second?” Biana asked. 

Biana had heard it all. Heard how Sophie was considering her. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but what was the worst that could happen? “Sophie?” Biana said as she pulled Sophie around the corner. “Would you mind showing me around the castle tonight? If you don’t want to that’s fine, I was just wondering-”  
“I’d love to.” Sophie said, beaming.

✧✧✧

“Psst. Biana. Are you awake?” Sophie whispered through the door.   
“Sophie? Of course!” Biana whispered back, carefully clambering out of bed.   
“Come with me! Quick!” Biana followed Sophie into what she presumed was Sophie’s room and climbed out on the deck. Sophie was climbing onto the roof above and she held out her hand. “This is my favorite spot. This probably isn’t what you meant when you asked for a tour of the castle, but it’s what you get.” They slid down the roof and scaled the wall, avoiding the crow’s nests. “Uh. Slight change of plans.”  
“What is it?” Sophie pointed to a platform a few walls down. Keefe was there with the dark-haired boy. And they were. . . kissing? Sophie led Biana to another place after that, but, once again, there were two more boys. “Is that. . . Fitz and Dex?”  
“Okay, I don’t know who Dex is, but that’s definitely Fitz.” Sophie confirmed.  
“Huh.”   
“Okay, I have two more places, but if both of them are ruined by other people, I’m going to be really mad. We have the pools and then a cave.” Sophie dragged Biana over to what looked like some stone pots which looked empty until two girls resurfaced. One was the dark-haired boy’s sister (Biana would have to ask for his name later) and the other had blonde hair. Biana saw Sophie close her eyes, clench her fists, and take a deep breath. Biana put her arm around Sophie’s shoulders and pulled her in close.   
“Let’s go to the cave.”  
The cave was the most beautiful place Biana had ever seen, and that was saying a lot. It had glowing crystals in every color inside and the ground was coated in moss. There was a small hole at the top and Biana lay down and gazed at the stars. Before she knew it, Sophie was laying next to her and a satisfied smile was growing on her face.   
“What?” Sophie asked her, a slight grin tugging on the corners of Sophie’s mouth.  
“Nothing. I just think that I’m finally happy.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!  
> Happy Holidays!!


End file.
